Recent international research provides a serious challenge to the general approach to suicide research and prevention, particularly as it applies to men. Current policy and practice are not only unhelpful to many men, but may actually compound the difficulties that men face. Unemployment is a recognised factor in a large percentage of all suicides.

By Anthony Smith, Industry Partner to the NHMRC Center for Research Excellence in Suicide Prevention (CRESP).

This Paper is an extension of an earlier Paper from 2012. A summarised version of the 2012 Paper was published in the Report Obsessive Hope Disorder - Reflections on 30 Years of Mental Health Reform in Australia and Visions for the Future.

Recent research policy and practice around men, unemployment and suicide are highlighted to motivate effective action on this issue. There is now very broad acknowledgement of the particular challenge around unemployment and suicide as it relates to men.

Responsive effective and appropriate action, however, is hard to find.

A unique new program designed and delivered by mature-aged men to help re-employ mature-aged men is now available. A Pilot for the Program has been conducted this year in both metropolitan and regional areas of Victoria. The 45 + Program Pilot was part - funded by DEEWR with an independent Evaluation fully funded by Cbus, the Building Constructing Industry Super Fund. The Evaluation is a strong validation of the merits of the program and recommends national replication. Most importantly the program has received very strong feedback from the participants themselves.

The program has a deliberate ‘men-friendly’ approach and has strong endorsement from the business community and key figures in men’s issues. The program was originally designed to address the barriers to re-employment for mature-aged people which have been fully acknowledged by the Australian Federal Government and the deliberate ‘men-friendly’ approach is essentially the same as the federal government’s ‘Peer-Based Environment’ for training mature-aged people.

The feminist movement is working to tackle misogyny and its many harmful consequences, but should it address misandry, the male equivalent, too? Photograph: Tim Wimborne/Reuters

It's difficult to deny that women suffer more than men as a result of their gender, and highlighting the myriad ways in which this happens is one of the cornerstones of modern feminism – which is currently enjoying a revival in the UK and elsewhere.

But justice isn't a relative concept. If it were, we could suggest we should care less about racism against black people just because Asian people in this country are more likely to be victims of racially-motivated hate crime.

Obviously that's nonsense. But so might be ignoring issues that affect men more severely than women just because women, overall, have it worse.

Delving into the data reveals a surprising array of areas in which men might have the hardest time. Here's six worth thinking about: